A small slice of the strange and enduring impact of David Lynch

David Lynch meant so much to cinema lovers across the world and a lot of that had to do with his ability to tap into the dream logic that connects us. A few years back, my pal Ian Abramson and I made a short film/proof of concept TV pilot called Inland Empire.

It was a bold choice of title, knowing full well that Lynch had a 2006 film of the same name, but it was a way of paying homage to him, as he laid the ground for the type of weirdness we wanted to explore.

Also, we’re actually from the Inland Empire (well… Ian really is… my family moved there from L.A. near my last year of middle school), which happens to be the first place I ever heard of David Lynch, one fateful day while chatting with the friends I’d made at my first ever job — a JC Penney in the Moreno Valley Mall. My co-worker, Jason, excitedly described the bizarre world Lynch and, if I’m not mistaken, let me borrow his DVD copy of Rabbits.

Jason died a few years after that. If I’m not mistaken, by car crash. But it has always stuck with me… The impact of one person’s excitement at a lousy job in a desert town. Very Lynchian indeed.

Here’s an excerpt from my text interview with another one of those co-workers, the amazing artist Rosy Cortez:

Tim:
(5:35PM) Seeing your posts about the burgeoning art scene there has changed my old view of it as well. You mentioned earlier how people call it “Murda Valley” etc.  I love that you’re at peace with it. So much of youth is about rejecting your home town. (5:35PM) I want to circle back to JC Penney for a moment to talk about Jason. I don’t remember if that’s how he spelled his name. But he’s become a bit of a myth in my mind. Another deeply creative person we worked with who sadly is no longer with us. I remember him introducing me to the work of David Lynch. Do you have any memories of him? And how has your creative path evolved since that job?

Rosy:
(5:48PM) Yes! Jason! Awe man he was a good dude! I think we had connected over David Lynch films too and he was musically inclined too! Actually just got a flashback one of the last times I hungout with you…we all took a coworker’s trip to SD with Jason and Naomi to watch Stomp! Man that was actually a whole creative team right there! Naomi was the one that inspired me to paint! She was so good! [Tim gives this an iPhone "❤️"]

Tim:
(5:50PM) Yes!! Wow. That was a lot of fun. Now that I think about it, I was really lost at the time because I had no clear plans about college or career beyond vaguely wanting to make films. We were such a fun weird group. Remember how “Closing Time” somehow always ended up playing around closing time? (5:51PM) Also, do you remember Jason’s last name? I wanted to see what there was of him on the internet a while back but couldn’t find him by just searching “Cool dude named Jason from Moreno Valley”